19 Powerful Photos From The Early Struggle For LGBT Rights

Today, the US Supreme Court ruled at last: all legally married couples will finally be equally protected by the law – including gay and lesbian couples.

It means that all legally married couples in the US will now have the right to visit their husband or wife if they’re sick or dying in hospital. And for couples where only one person is an American citizen, they can now marry and stay together in the US, instead of being torn apart.

This is huge news within the US, but the march toward equality is accelerating all over the world. All Out members and our partner organisations in many countries are building incredible momentum towards winning equal marriage in many more countries, like Brazil and Mexico.

The decision today, and recent successful marriage campaigns led by organizers in Argentina, France, New Zealand and Uruguay show that the message of love and equality is taking hold.

We can celebrate this moment together, as we keep working to build a world where no person has to sacrifice their family, safety, freedom or dignity because of who they are or who they love.

Messages of joy are flying around the world on Twitter and Facebook, will you join in?

If you use Facebook, help break the news by clicking here and then clicking SHARE, to share the image below with friends and family.

The US has taken a step in the right direction to join the community of nations around the world where every person can marry the one they love.

It’s been a long time coming.
 

Andrew Kaczynski BuzzFeed Staff

1. A lesbian couple at a demonstration in Albany, N.Y. in 1977.

Via: Diana Davies photographs/New York Public Library

2. Members of the Gay Activists Alliance holding a sit-in at New York State Republican headquarters in New York City in 1970.

Via: Diana Davies photographs/New York Public Library

3. Two men at a demonstration in Albany in 1971.

Via: Diana Davies photographs/New York Public Library

4. The Gay Liberation Day march in New York City in June 1970.

Via: Kay Tobin Lahusen/New York Public Library

5. A man holding a sign at a demonstration in Albany in 1971.

Via: Diana Davies photographs/New York Public Library

6. The Gay Liberation Front marching on Times Square in 1969.

Via: Diane Davis photographs/New York Public Library

7. A gay rights picket line at the Pentagon in the summer of 1965.

Via: Kay Tobin Lahusen/New York Public Library

8. A “Straights for Gays” sign at the Philadelphia Gay Pride rally and march in June 1972.

Via: Kay Tobin Lahusen/New York Public Library

9. Marsha P. Johnson picketing NYC’s Bellevue Hospital to protest unfair treatment of street people and gays in the 1970s.

Via: Diana Davies Photographs/New York Public Library

10. People participating in Christopher Street Liberation Day, which was close to the two-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which were largely considered the catalyst to the LGBT rights movement.

Via: Diana Davies Photographs/New York Public Library

11. Protestors picketing in front of the White House in 1965 over federal employment restrictions.

Via: Kay Tobin Lahusen/New York Public Library

12. People picketing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1966, in support of gay rights.

Via: Kay Tobin Lahusen/New York Public Library

13. A New York City gay pride march in 1982.

Via: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center/New York Public Library

14. The lead banner in the 1972 Philadelphia pride parade.

Via: Kay Tobin Lahusen/New York Public Library

15. Gay rights icon Frank Kameny during his campaign for Congress in 1971.

Via: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center/New York Public Library

16. The Gay Activist Alliance demonstrating against Mafia-controlled gay bars and police harassment in August 1971 in Greenwich Village.

Via: Diana Davies Photographs/New York Public Library

17. People at the Gay Liberation Front march on Times Square in New York City in 1969.

Via: Diana Davies Photographs/New York Public Library

18. A woman holding a poster that says, “I am your worst fear I am your best fantasy,” at the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day parade in 1970.

Via: Diana Davies Photographs/New York Public Library

19. LGBT protestors marching against the Vietnam War in New York City in November 1971.

Via: Diana Davies Photographs/New York Public Library

All photos via the New York Public Library’s digital collections